Hi, My name is Victor Huey, I am making a documentary about the underground music scene in China, called "Rocking the Great Wall" Shot over a 25 year period form 1986-2011. We are now entering post production. Besides releasing a traditional feature length documentary,I have been thinking about new strategies such as distribution via a interactive documentary social network site based on my content.

Hello everyone! I am Grace Albasin from the Philippines but I am here in New York City taking up my MA in Media Studies at The New School. It's great to be part of this group but I am just beginning to tread on documentary. I haven't done anything yet but it is the track I'm pursuing at school.

Storytelling and music are the two things that define purpose of this thing called me. Maui was where the journey this time around began. Los Angeles, New York and New Mexico are places used to dwell. Finding others of the same drive and passion is what makes being here possible. Always looking forward to meeting others to make more magic. "Life's like a movie. Write your own ending. Keep believing. Keep pretending"

My name is Leroy Metcalf and I am an aspiring filmmaker. I'm currently working on my first documentary titled, "Why Do You Hate Me So Much?", which is about people interacting with other people that may hate them because of race, religion, sexual orientation, geographical location, political views, gender or age. I expect there to be a lot conflict during these interactions, but definitely not Jerry Springer type conflict. The aim is to open up dialogue with people that hate others because of there differences and to hopefully understand why people hate and to get people to think and be more accepting towards others.

I'm very new to this site and I don't know the rules yet. I would really like to network with people to get them involved in my project. Doug/John, please let me know if that's not allowed on this site.

I completely understand your frustration and your pessimism. I think the American public at large is finally ready to hear about industrial hemp, and I think the changes in the technology, and the interest in being greener and more energy efficient are all coming together. As much as we have needed hemp for years, I think hemp's time is finally here, thanks in part to hemp's ability to build the healthiest, most energy efficient houses.

It's horrible to think of the thousands of farms and farmers who could have saved their family farms had they been able to grow hemp. And it's horrible to think of all the merchants who got behind hemp and lost so much, because the market wasn't ready for their vision.

So many people still confuse industrial hemp with marijuana. I've worked at Barnes & Noble for the past 6 years, and I have never seen industrial hemp grace the front cover of a magazine, except for the occasional mention on the front cover of one of the periodicals on marijuana, and it has been equally hard to find hemp cited in the indexes of books one might think it should be included in. I think America is going to be really excited to meet industrial hemp at this time in history, thanks in great part to the many reasons that you cited above. In May, the nation will be celebrating the 2nd annual Hemp History Week. Slowly but surely, the tides are changing.

My name is Jacob Bricca, and I'm new to D-Word. I've been editing feature docs since the early 2000s. Some of my credits are Lost in La Mancha (2002), which chronicled Terry Gilliam's disastrous attempt to make a film adaptation of Don Quixote, Jimmy Scott: If You Only Knew (2002), a biopic/concert film about the jazz vocalist that won the 2003 Independent Lens Audience Award, Tell Me Do You Miss Me (2006), a melancholy travelogue following indie rock band Luna on their final tour dist. by Rhino, and Con Artist (2010), which follows the indescribably odd antics of NYC painter Mark Kostabi and is playing at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in LA this coming April 1-7.

Though I seem to work on a lot of films about musicians and artists, some of the ones I'm most passionate about deal with themes of social justice. We just locked picture on Precious Knowledge, a film about the banning of the Mexican-American ethnic studies classes running in the Tucson public schools, which opponents call "seditious" and proponents see as an effective way of engaging their students. (It will premiere at the San Diego Intl. Film Festival later this month.)

I've also done some directing/producing. My feature Indies Under Fire: The Battle for the American Bookstore (2006) followed three indie bookstores in their struggle to stay afloat in the early 2000s. My most recent short Pure, a mash-up of action movie memes, played at the Berlin Intl. Film Festival, and was abuzz on the web for a brief period.

I also teach documentary studies and production at Wesleyan University. Teaching "The Documentary Film" (a history/survey course) is a humbling experience--so many great films! I love exposing students to the genius of Frederick Wiseman, the Maysles Bros. and Ross McElwee, and showing contemporary docs at the close of the course (My Kid Could Paint That and Iraq In Fragments have been recent choices.) In my "Documentary Advocacy" class, I teach doc production to amateurs, and help students engage with local organizations to make films that they can use for outreach purposes.

I love docs and all the issues of they bring up. I thought the recent love-fest over The Social Network was way overblown and advised anyone I could to watch Catfish instead. I thought it engaged with the Facebook phenomenon and all its attendant issues way more successfully!

Hi, my name is Nicolas Brown and I've been addicted to documentary film making for most of my life. My father is a documentary filmmaker, and so are both of my brothers. (This feels like my introduction to a 12 step program...)
I heard about D Word whilst teaching in Potsdam, Germany last week. I just spent the last 3 years making Human Planet for the BBC, soon to premiere on Discovery on April 10, 2007.
Prior to that, I made films about climate change such as The Truth About Global Warming with Tom Brokow (Emmy), Climate Chaos with David Attenborough, and the Energy Solution (Best Environmental Film, Telluride Mountainfilm). Before that it was Colonial House and Frontier House for PBS.
I mainly work for TV– I produce and direct. Rarely, I pick up a camera and film myself.
I now have films in development, and am rennovating my kitchen– without filming it at all!
Well, thats my introduction.

In a week or so, you'll be able to see how Nicolas and his DoP, Keith Partridge, made their segments of Human Planet in extreme environments; they presented this to a professional audience at Insight Out last week. http://www.insightout-training.net/videos.html

I'm looking for some great panelist for my film "What On Earth? â€“ Inside the Crop Circle Mystery" My film's appearing at the QUAD in NY 4/22 for a solid run and I'm looking for panelist, not necessarily crop circle experts but anyone who truly cares about the consciences of the world we live in. If you know of anyone or want to attend I would love to have you there. I have the event on Facebook if you want to RSVP, thank you.

Hi. My name is Bill Schlosser and I've been the television industry for nearly twenty years. I found out about The D-Word only recently and am excited to be a part of this community. While I'm no stranger to documentary making, I am new to the world of crowdfunding. I'm trying this method of fundraising to fund the post production of a doc about the snake charmers of India. So far I've raised $30. Not exactly stellar. I would love to hear from anybody who has had success in this area and how they did it. Right now I'm on IndieGoGo. If you would like to see my pitch and critique it, you can go there and search "Sapera." I'm not asking for donations from this community, just some advice. I look forward to getting to know all of you better. And sometime soon I'll post a picture of my ugly mug! Oh and here's a link if you want to see a bit of "Sapera: The Snake Charmers of India."

Welcome to The D-Word, Bill. Theresa Loong has written about her Kickstarter experience in the Finding Funding (N. America) topic, including a link to a lengthy report about it with many tips. Highly recommended reading.

Iâ€™ve been a member of the D-Word for a while – in fact, some of you have been very helpful answering technical questions I had – but realized I never introduced myself. better late than never. . . I am a burgeoning filmmaker. My recent films include a documentary I shot in the NYC Subway called â€˜A City Symphony Underground.â€™ Some consider it more of an experimental piece but itâ€™s actually based on the â€œcity symphonyâ€ Documentary genre made popular in the 1920s. Films such as â€˜Berlin: A City Symphony, Vertovâ€™s Man with a Movie Camera, Manahatta,â€™ and Joris Ivenâ€™s â€˜Rain.â€™ So far the film has been screened in 5 festivals and, I hope, many more.

I like doing all parts of the filmmaking process. I have my own equipment. One of my interests is creating short films for NGOs and nonprofits that help others. Films that they can use for fundraising, website, etc. After the earthquake in Haiti last year I traveled to Haiti with World Wide Orphanâ€™s Foundation founder, Jane Aronson, to film her pilgrimage to orphanages there. I loved the work so much and also proved to myself that I was able to film and record audio on my own and get great results. Added to the difficulty of the trek was the 100 degree weather shooting mid day in bright conditions â€“ man, that was hard â€“ getting decent footage shooting people with dark skin with the sun behind them. Arghhh. . . . Plus it was run and gun stuff, all hand held, never knowing what will happen next.

I have also started creating artist profiles â€“ short pieces that profile a creative personâ€™s work and the process they go through.

If any of you D-Worders have any ideas of people that may be interested in the kind of work I do â€“ please get in touch . . . love to hear from all and everybody.

Oh, much of my professional history I produced educational media and curriculum so am also interested in working on projects created to educate or having to do with education. I have a graduate degree from Harvard Grad School of Ed.

Well, thatâ€™s it for now. Please check out my website Catherinestratton.blogspot.com where you can see recent work.

Thanks for the intro, Cathy. See, if you hadn't introduced yourself we would have continued to call you Catherine. Next thing you know you'll be hanging out in the Bar and getting plastered in the afternoon.

Hello D-Word, I am quite new to the world of film making... though its been something I've always wanted to be involved with ever since my father was subject of a film by the legendary, Paul Watson, in the 70's. I had the privilege of having lunch with Paul last year and was further inspired to become a catalyst in the telling of important stories. I found myself in the Biz quite by mistake shortly after this... an introduction I made for my friend, director Mark Neale, resulted in his feature documentary, Fastest, being funded. I am now working with him as producer for Mechanics of Hope, a film about NGO, Riders for Health. I was assistant to CEO's of this organisation for a number of years so I know it very well. I am also producing a film about composer, film maker & educator, Tony Conrad. This film is being made by Tyler Hubby. One of my other major projects is with Crispin Glover, the actor & auteur. I am presently developing the circuit in the UK for him to tour his Big Slide Show performance & film screenings. This is his sole distribution model and one that I am honoured to help develop. The first tour in Feb this year sold out. I am learning fast about the innovative & new funding & distribution models that are being practised and I am keen to get involved with discussions about it all. I am also a musician and writer.